Abdallah, Wissam

Abstract [en]

The aim of this Master´s thesis is to examine which type of regime the state Iran is. There has been much research on this issue and the discussion is not over yet. I have departed from three theoretical perspectives in order to understand which type of regime the Middle Eastern nation is: theocracy, democracy and hybrid regime. The theocratic regimetype is composed by David L. Websters archeological theory about governments ruled by God. For the democratic theory in this study Robert Dahls analytical framework about democracy and polyarchy is used. The hybrid regime is mainly represented by Andreas Schedler indicators. A qualitative case study approach is used for the purpose of this study where I have constructed an analytical framework containing indicators in order to apply these on the three regime models. The results and conclusion I can draw from this study is that Iran is more like a hybrid regime. However, there are several reservations and there need to be more studies to qualify this suggestion.